Puppy love
by ida-emilie
Summary: When Sam was seven years old he brought his first dog home. Will eventually be Sabriel.
1. Chapter 1

When Sam was seven years old he brought his first dog home. It was a large mongrel puppy, probably a mix between a Rottweiler and some scruffy breed he expected. He'd found the poor thing cold and starving in the edge of the woods near where he and his family lived.

It had taken him more than half an hour to gain its trust and let him pick it up in his arms so he could carry it home. It was large and heavy and Sam had a hard time carrying it, seeing how it squirmed in his little arms and how the scruffy black-and-tan fur tickled his face as he held it close.

And when he finally arrived at the porch of his family's home he felt like a hero. He had saved this puppy from starving to death in the woods, he was sure of that! And maybe Dad would let him keep it if he begged long enough. He was sure Mom wouldn't have a problem with the dog, but Dad and Dean were another matter entirely.

The first person to see the puppy other than him was Dad. And Sam had been nervous but he'd explained how he'd found the dog and carried it home all by himself and how happy he would be if he could keep it and he talked for what seemed like eternity until he ran out of breath and had to rely entirely on the pleading in his eyes. John had not said a single word when Sam had given his monologue, he'd just stood there with hard eyes plastered on the scruffy thing, sighing once in a while when Sam came up with a point he himself thought was completely fair.

But now that Sam was (finally) done talking John stroke his stubbles with a thoughtful look in his eyes. Sam was waiting for an answer, still clinging the large puppy to his chest and just hoping - hoping so bad. But John shakes his head slowly and squats down to be approximately the same height as his seven year old son. "Sam, buddy, the dog can't stay," John started out with the daddy-voice, the one that normally would end an argument before it began and Sam's heart dropped.

Not letting the puppy go, Sam looked up at his Dad with angry eyes that were already starting to sting with tears. "Why can't he stay?" the kid asked, trying to sound adult and reasonable. His father brought a hand forward and started petting the dog in his arms as he continued "Sam, we can't bring a dog into the house." But Sam just glared at his hand petting the puppy Sam couldn't have.

"Why not? That's so unfair!" he replied and shot his lower lip forward into a pout. But he knew why. It was the same reason as to why Mom had had to take Timmy the cat back to the pet shop half a year ago. He heard his Dad sigh and looked him in the eyes as John slowly stood up from his crouch.

"Dean's allergy," John answered, looking less and less like he wanted to have this discussion by the second. "We can't have pets with fur, Sam, I already explained this to you," he gave this huff that meant there would be no argument about this and that he was right and that Sam should just take a bath and go to bed.

By now Sam was hugging the puppy tight enough for it to whimper with discomfort and he declared that it wasn't fair, and why couldn't dean just get some allergy medicine and he could totally keep the dog in his room, Dean didn't even have to know it was there, but it was easy to see that he was losing the argument, and in the end when Dad told him firmly that they would take the dog to the shelter right away he started crying.

But there was nothing to be done about it and John opened the house door and called out "Mary, I'm taking Sam to the dog shelter, he found a dog, I'll buy milk on the way home," and soon the three of them were sitting in the impala on their way to the shelter, John shooting small glances over to the passenger's seat to be sure the dog wasn't messing the car up more than necessary.

The trip was silent, since Sam was sure his voice would break over if he tried saying anything and every once in a while he removed a hand from petting the dog to wipe away a tear. The only thing breaking the silence was John's never ending little sighs from when he opened his mouth to try to explain to Sam why this was better, but then deciding against it.

"We're there," Dad said as he opened the door for Sam, so the kid could hold onto the dog for a while longer. "Come on out, Sam," he said and put a hand on his son's shoulder. Sam just swept away another tear and grumbled something unintelligible before getting out and picking up the pup again.

He knew there was no fighting his father's decision and so he followed him blindly, his face hidden in the dog's scruffy fur no tears left to cry for the unfairness in this world. His father led him into the dog shelter where the puppy would live from now on, because of Dean's stupid allergy.

"Why, hello there," a voice called in sing-song and Sam looked up to give the person owning it a defying glare. He really didn't want to give up his puppy, no matter what Dad said. The owner of the voice raised his eyebrows to the glare and grinned wide at Sam. "What a nice doggy, he yours?" the man asked and John cut Sam off before he could answer.

"Well actually, my kid found this pup but we have no way of keeping him," he explained to the shelter owner, who gave a sad 'I see' and crouched down in front of Sam to look closer at the puppy. Sam pulled back a bit and the man smiled warmly at him. "Don't worry, I won't hurt him," he said and started looking the dog over.

Sam on the other hand started looking the stranger over, still highly unsatisfied with the fact that he had to give the dog away, and he currently decided that it was this shelter owner's fault. He decided right there and then that he didn't like him. "I'm Gabriel," the man said and looked up at Sam, oddly enough not uncomfortable with the strong glare the kid gave him.

Maybe he experienced that from a lot of children who brought dogs in.

"And you are?" he prompted, still running his fingers through the dog's fur though his eyes were focused on Sam, making the kid a bit stiff with discomfort. Sam wanted to give Dad a defying glare too, but something in the amber eyes of this Gabriel fellow kept his focus. "I'm Sam and this is my dog," he said, voice muffled by the puppy's fur. He heard John give a strained sigh.

"But your daddy said you can't keep him," Gabriel noted and bobbed his head to one side lazily, "But I found him in the woods, he's mine," Sam answered and took one step back like he thought Gabriel would take away the puppy. Gabriel only smiled, "What did you call him?" he asked and looked down at the dog again, releasing Sam's gaze.

Sam hadn't thought about a name yet. In honestly he might have already known that John wouldn't let him keep it and then subconsciously decided not to name the dog since it'd be harder to let it go when time came. But he still felt embarrassed about it. "N'thing." He looked away and caught sight of a door labelled "dogs". That was probably where his puppy would go.

"Now, we can't have that, can we?" Gabriel said, and Sam turned his attention back towards him in time to see a large grin plastered on his face. "Come on, you've got to help me give him a name, kiddo,"

Sam wasn't sure he had got to do anything, but the warmth in Gabriel's tone was reassuring and he looked down at the pup again. "I..." he started and looked nervously up at his Dad. John just stood with his arms crossed, clearly getting bored with all this baby talk. So there was no help to collect there.

"Go on," Gabriel prompted with a smile. "Well, we had this cat called Timmy once..." he felt silly but for some reason this dog (and the fact that he couldn't keep this pet either) reminded him enough of the Timmy case that he wanted to call the dog Timmy too.

"I want to call him Timmy, too," he said and sniffled.

"Timmy-Two?" Gabriel's amber eyes locked with Sam's hazel again and Sam found himself smiling for the first time since he'd met Dad on the porch.

That hadn't been what Sam had meant but sure, it sounded good, and he nodded.

"Mmh, Timmy-Two!"

There was a small pause, Gabriel had stopped petting the pup, where the kid and the shelter owner just looked each other over. Sam reconsidered the entire 'not liking' Gabriel, because he actually seemed genuinely nice and understanding.

"You could always come visit him, you know,"

Sam's eyes brighten and he looks up at John, whose expression (if possible) just turned a bit sterner than before. John always disliked when other people told his children what they can and can't do. "Can I?" Sam asked, both a question aimed at Dad and at Gabriel. John sighs and nods. "I guess you can come here once in a while if you want to. It's better than you bringing dogs home all the time..."

Gabriel smiles warmly at Sam and voices his own answer, "Sure you can visit Timmy-Two here. At least until someone comes to adopt him," he reaches a hand out and Sam's sure he'll pet Timmy-Two but for some reason the hand ends up in Sam's own mop of hair and rustles it affectionately. "You're always welcome here, kiddo!" Gabriel grins and Sam can hear Dad clear his throat behind him.

"Well, it's time we drove home again, come on Sam, let the man take the dog," Dad's voice was edgy and Sam knew it was time to let Timmy-Two go. At least until he could come here next time. So he shifted the dog's weight in his arms and let Gabriel's large adult hands grab the puppy and suddenly Sam didn't have the warmth against his chest anymore. He did have a large amount of black-and-tan hairs on his shirt though.

When Sam was sitting inside the impala again, Dad by his side reminding himself to bring out the vacuumer when they got home because damn that dog had shed hair everywhere, the kid turned around to cast a look over the shelter. It looked like a nice place, now that he thought about it. And it seemed that there were outdoor kennels as well.

By the entrance door stood Gabriel, holding Timmy-Two in his arms. Timmy-Two seemed a lot smaller, when it wasn't a seven year old boy holding him, and Gabriel was holding up one of its paws, waving goodbye at Sam.

Sam smiled and waved goodbye back at the dog and the shelter owner.

Maybe he could borrow Dean's bike when he wanted to visit Timmy-Two. He humpf'ed and Dad gave him a short look before looking back at the road. Yeah, that was the least Dean could do, after all this was all thanks to Dean's allergy.


	2. Chapter 2

"But you don't ever use it, Dean!" Sam argued and stomped after his older brother, who was well on his way out of the living room, out of the house. Dean had answered no as soon as Sam had told him what he intended to use the bicycle for. And oddly enough not _before_ that, which of course lead to Sam thinking it was _only_ because of the dogs.

"It's no fair, Dean!" he shouted as he sped up to catch the eleven years old before he had a chance to leave the premises entirely. "Well tough luck, life isn't fair and it's _my_ bike!" Dean answered and Sam was sure he was going out into the garage to fetch the bike and take a ride on it, just to prove his point. Sam almost felt like crying.

But Sam was a big boy now, so he did the next best thing. "Mooooooom!"

"Oh you _so_ didn't," Dean stopped to a halt and turned around with a hateful look on his face. Sam just smiled and as Mary Winchester entered the living room the smile quickly switched into a sad set of puppy dog eyes.

"What is it, Sam?" Mary asked and looked from one boy to another, not letting Dean's clear anger go unnoticed. She even noticed that he mouthed 'I'm gonna kill you' to his little brother. This was definitely not what Mary had expected when she and John knew they were having two boys.

Sam was quickly by Mom's side and hugged her leg while pointing accusingly at his older brother, "Dean doesn't wanna let me borrow his bike, but I need to borrow his bike - and he doesn't even use the thing!" he said, Dean standing up a bit straighter - ready to defend himself. "Yeah, well you wanna use it to go see a doggy, and then when you get back you'll be filled with dog hairs and make me sneeze!" he was pointing now as well.

Mary put a hand on Sam's head and sighed deeply. These two children sure were a hassle.

"Sweetie," she said to Dean and crouched down next to Sam who was still holding onto her, flashing a triumphant smile at his bigger brother. "Come over here," she said, voice a bit more firm now that Dean hadn't immediately caught on to the fact that she wanted him right in front of her.

And Dean knew what was coming, because the look on his face was the one of a kid whose ice cream just got taken away. "Dean, hon, you got this bike when you were nine, if I'm not wrong you outgrew it last year." She took his face in her hands and tilted it up so he met her eyes, anger and defeat absolutely _burning_ in his. "And we both know that I'm never wrong."

Dean mumbled something easily translated into a swear, but Mary decided not to take notice of it, instead she just tilted his head again and kissed him on his fuzzy hair. "Now, if Sam promises he'll get off the dog hair before he enters the house, I think you should let him borrow the bike."

It wasn't as much an 'I think' as it was an 'you will', but that was just the way mothers did things, and after a pause that lasted more than three and a half minutes Dean reluctantly gave in. Another thing he gave was a killing look to his little brother, but Mary let it slide.

And that was how Sam found himself two days later out in the chill wind on his brother's bike, which might've been a tiny bit too tall for him, but he didn't care. He'd grow into it. And right now he just wanted to get to the dog shelter as quickly as possible to see Timmy-Two again.

Mary had made sure he knew exactly the way to the shelter before he left, and after telling her all the turns three or four times it was printed on his inner eye lid. He could probably have made it there with his eyes closed by now, though that would have been a horrible idea. His legs spun quickly as he treaded the pedals violently, his small lungs heaving for air and a grin plastered on his face. The sooner he got to the shelter, the better.

Panting and wheezing, Sam pushed Dean's bike into a bush rather than park it somewhere, too eager about seeing the dogs to make sure the bike wouldn't be stolen or fall over then get run over. He honestly couldn't care less about the damned thing now that he was finally here. The sounds of multiple different dogs being excited came from inside the shelter, and Sam hurried towards the door he and his father had entered earlier on the week.

The smell of dogs and cleaning products was strong, and Sam grinned widely at the increasing volume of the barking coming from the door labeled "dogs" that he had seen on his first visit. He wasn't actually sure if he was allowed to just enter the door, so he stood nervously by the door, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt as he considered what he should do now that he was here.

"'Scuse me, coming through!" Sam sidestepped the doors just in time as a person loaded with several cardboard boxes kicked it open, unable to see over the amount of boxes he was carrying. "Uh, hello, excuse me?" Sam said and went around the man to poke his arm for contact. The man turned out to be the same man Sam had met when he and Dad had come to turn in Timmy-Two. Gabriel, Sam remembered.

"Oh, kiddo, didn't see you there!" Gabriel said, setting the cardboard boxes down on the ground a little ways from the door. "I, uh, I came to see the puppy I… Came with earlier this week," it sounded almost like a question, a request of permission, and Gabriel just chuckled at Sam, answering him "Oh, yeah, Timmy-Two! I'll show you the way in a mo, but any chance a big, strong kid like you can help me with some of these boxes?"

Sam smiled and nodded, sure he could! And he felt his chest swell in pride over being called words like big and strong. Gabriel's smile reached his eyes as he squatted down to pick up the larger amount of the boxes, leaving one for Sam to carry, which Sam helpfully picked up.

"Come on, it's this way,"

"What are even _in_ these boxes?"

"The dead bodies of my enemies,"

"Get real," Sam huffed and rearranged his hands under the box to support it better. Gabriel just laughed. "A child that understands sarcasm, I'm impressed!" he didn't look as much impressed as he looked amused, though, but still Sam smiled at the odd compliment.

When the two had finally gotten to the destination of the boxes (Sam thought they were very, very heavy and Sam wondered if Gabriel had let him take the heaviest box) Gabriel thanked Sam and pulled out a twix bar from his chest pocket. Sam was setting his box down when he was poked on the shoulder with an open candy bar.

He stared at Gabriel in confusion, the adult already munching on one of the former inhabitants of the candy wrapper. Gabriel just nudged at him again and when Sam didn't take the candy he rolled his eyes. "C'mon kid, it's not gonna kill you," Sam warily took the candy from Gabriel and removed the wrapper. "See it as a 'thank you for making the stack of boxes a bit shorter so I could actually see and not fall and kill myself' token of sorts," Gabriel winked and watched Sam take a bite off the twix. Caramel, chocolate and crunchiness making Sam's taste buds sing in praise.

"Now, you wanted to see that doggy again, right?"

The dog aisle had an even stronger scent of cleaning products than Sam would have thought. He honestly would have guessed a place like that would smell homely and purely of dogs. It confused him a bit at first, but when he addressed it to Gabriel the man grinned and told him that they had to clean a lot to keep the doggies healthy. Sam could understand that.

The puppies that had been brought in were placed at the end of the aisle, and Timmy-Two was undoubtedly the biggest of the lot. Sam was happy to see the pup again and though it probably didn't recognize him, both Timmy-Two and the other puppies swarmed over to get a portion of Sam's love.

Gabriel was by Sam at all times, letting him into the closure after making sure he put on plastic protectors on his shoes and washed his hand thoroughly ("_I heard about kids not knowing how to wash their hands correctly, but this is obscene!_"), he even went into the closure with him, saying that Sam could work as luring the puppies away while Gabriel cleaned their beddings.

And Sam definitely enjoyed this little piece of work, because being run over and yapped at and having the hem of your pant legs bitten at by five adorable puppies of all sizes was the most fantastic thing in the world. If that was what it was like to run an animal shelter then Sam had found his dream job! Lawyers might earn good money, but did they have daily access to puppy-petting? Sam thought not.

As Sam followed Gabriel around the shelter like a - well, like a lost puppy - he found out that it wasn't all rainbows and butterflies. There was poop to be cleaned up, sick animals to be tended (and Sam found that pus was really one of the most disgusting things to come out of a living animal, poop now on a second place) and some of the people who came in to look at dogs really didn't seem like they should have one.

Which was where Sam's admiration for Gabriel doubled.

A young couple, the man carrying an infant in his arms - lulling the baby to sleep - came into the shelter, telling Gabriel with much happiness that they were looking for another addition to their perfect little family. Sam was walking around, having let Gabriel talk him into taking some cleaning products from point A to point B for him. But Sam listened interested to the conversation nonetheless. Maybe they were even going to adopt Timmy-Two.

Gabriel looked them over once and gave the couple a business like smile, much unlike the genuine smiles Sam had seen. "Yes, of course. So, this your first dog together?" he asked, pulling out a survey and a pen. The woman smiled affectionately at her husband, "yeah, our first dog all together, actually,"

Gabriel's pen hovered over the paper and his brow furrowed visibly. "Oh," he said and looked up, clearly waiting for something else. The woman and man didn't seem to register, completely lost in each other's gaze. Their baby started whining again.

"You know," Gabriel said and cleared his throat to gain their attention, also making Sam focus on him even more than he already had. "I would _really_ recommend you think this through… Having a baby and a dog at the same time is really risky business," as the baby turned its head in its father's grasp and looked at Gabriel he waved at it and smiled warmly.

"Uh, yeah, well - I expect my mother to help us, though," the woman said, suddenly a bit nervous. "She's raised dogs before, y'know." There was a bit of an offended tone in her voice, but Gabriel didn't seem interested in taking her up on it. "Yeah," her husband said, clearly not having noticed the tone in his wife's voice, "When we're off to work Geraldine has promised to come and feed the dog,"

Sam had found himself ending up standing next to Gabriel who was suddenly tense and looking angry. "So, you're saying that you plan on being away for almost a day in a row?" he asked, visibly trying to calm himself. The man backed off a bit but the woman kept her posture. "Well, if that's what our jobs need of us then we'll have to," she said, defiance in her voice.

Sam's head went from Gabriel to the woman as if he was watching a tennis match.

Gabriel sighed and put down the pen on the survey before he said, "If your job takes out a _lot_ of time in your everyday life, then you shouldn't get a dog. It's common sense that a living being completely devoted and loyal to you should not be let alone for a long time each day," as he said this he shot a pitiful glance to the baby in the man's arms. The woman noticed and went beet red with anger. "And if you plan on getting a first time dog, don't pick it up from _my_ shelter! My babies have been through enough, I don't need the likes of you to spoil them more."

The woman was about to retort when her husband pulled her arm, telling her that they should go. She shook her head at Gabriel and Sam could hear her whisper something of the like of "you'll regret this conversation". Sam turned to Gabriel, arms still full of different bottles of cleaning agents.

The adult let out a long sigh and massaged the bridge of his nose. "Sorry, kid, some people aren't meant to have dogs - and if you aren't rude to them they'll think you agree that they are." He explained and ruffled Sam's hair. "You understand that, right?" Sam wasn't sure what he was supposed to understand.

"Sometimes you have to be rude to do good," Gabriel smirked and patted Sam on the cheek. Sam nodded, not sure that was something Mom would agree to, but what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her, and Sam and Gabriel went on with the day's work.

When Sam was finally back home (the bicycle hadn't been stolen and he'd remembered the way back) and was tugged in by Mary at night he smiled tiredly at her and told her that he didn't want to be a fireman any longer. Nor a surfer. Not even a lawyer. Mary giggled and asked what he then wanted to be, and Sam answered that he wanted to work at Gabriel's dog shelter. Then he fell asleep.


End file.
